365 Hours with Rufus Shinra (FFVII: Rufus x OC)

ch16. Hello, new world, that's fucking worse than the last one

TWO YEARS LATER. The newbuild City of Edge was said it was built by the scrap scavenged from Midgar. It would be no surprise. That's why there was the smell of rust in the air, merging with the stench of corpses. Geostigma they called it. A new disease that spread across the globe. Some blamed Shinra. Some others blamed Sephiroth and JENOVA. Some others even blamed the Lifestream, but none was sure. No one knew exactly what it was.

No one but scientists, that is.

Hannah had a new ID, a new name, a new life. It wasn't worse than the last one, nor it was better. She was working on her doctorate in the Shinra University of Edge as a research scientist. She was getting enough money to pay for a small apartment nearby. Shinra had built a City in just a few months after the destruction of Midgar. Hannah wasn't surprised. So much gil. But she was glad she had made that decision that day to change her name. He hadn't found her. Both he and her brother thought she was dead.

The guilt dug a pit in her stomach every time she thought about it. But for once, her life was peaceful. She was not running from anybody. She was not being chased because simply Hannah Sinclair was thought to be dead, and that was it. It was a peaceful life, but it did come with a cost. Regret. Guilt.

"It's easier to erase people than to erase memories," She remembered telling him. This time, she had erased herself.

Hannah did not think about it. She just worked. She dove into the research on Geostigma at the University and that was it. It kept her busy. It kept her mind off things. Life was better when she just worked.

Hannah was preparing to leave. Another long day had gone by and night had arrived. After gathering, and cleaning up the equipment, she set off to place the tools and the utensils to the series of shelves that spread by the other side of the lab. She took off her lab-coat, hanging it by the coat-stand where countless other lab-coats hung. The rest of the research scientists were gone. It was 7:00PM and it made sense that everybody would retire for the day. Everybody but one, that is.

There was still one sitting on the benches of one of the many lab counters that spread throughout the huge room. Another woman, the same as her age and perhaps older. Or at least she looked older.

Hannah recognised her from her clothes and the identification card that was pinned on her lab-coat. She was one of the Professors of the University's Life Sciences Department. There was a cane nearby, propped on the counter beside her, while she stared behind the lenses of her glasses on the microscope. She didn't have a focused expression on her face. On the contrary, she was struggling to stay focused.

She looked away from the microscope for a moment and took off her glasses. She let them hang by the rope around her neck, whilst her hands reached for her aching forehead, wiping the pain away.

Hannah approached the familiar woman. The Professor got up, grabbing her cane and she set off to walk towards another counter and grab something. Why was she using a cane? She didn't look older than 30, yet again, she looked like she had been through a lot.

The distance between them was long enough so that Hannah couldn't read her name on her ID card. Hannah felt the curiosity to approach her and ask. She looked familiar. Too familiar.

Her legs did not hold her up for long, and the cane fell off her hand and she reached immediately for support from the nearby counter. Hannah hurried right away, grabbing the woman's arm around her shoulders, and helping her stand.

"Professor!"

The woman winced as Hannah helped her sit back down on the bench. Maybe there was an issue with her legs -an injury, perhaps- and maybe that's why she was using a cane. But, no, there was something else wrong with her. She looked tired. No, she looked exhausted, yet she was still there working tirelessly. She had black circles around her eyes as if she hadn't slept in weeks. Her black hair was a short mess and the stench of alcohol came as she exhaled.